On the top floor of the Omega building in Dallas, Texas, an executive of Omega Corporation...

        

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On the top floor of the Omega building in Dallas, Texas, an executive of Omega Corporation was finishing his presentation. "And so, to summarize, we have a great deal of diversity. We don't discriminate in hiring, period. Five percent of our applicants are African American, and 5 percent of our hires are African American. Fifteen percent of our applicants are Hispanic, and 15 percent of our hires are Hispanic. "We also compensate workers equally and give everyone an equal chance to earn a promotion. It is true, granted, that in the past this company acted indefensibly. But those days are long gone. I urge you not to fix a problem that doesn't exist. The best thing for us to do is to be fair to every applicant and to always hire the best applicant for every position. Thank you." At the head of the conference table, the CEO said, "Thank you, Richard. Ann will now present the other side of the issue. Ann?" Omega's CFO rose and walked to the opposite end of the conference table. She plugged a cord into her laptop, straightened her jacket, and began her argument. "In many ways, Omega Corporation is a diverse organization. Our officers are 45 percent female, and our overall workforce is 48 percent female. But we lag far behind our competitors in other areas. "We do have 5 percent African-American workers, but Texas's population is 12 percent African American. We do have, as Richard pointed out, 15 percent Hispanic employees, but Texas's population is 33 percent Hispanic. “Minorities are significantly underrepresented at Omega. And, whether we talk about it or not, we all know why." She paused. "It's because Mr. Smith wanted it that way." She pointed squarely at the oversized portrait of the company's founder that hung on the conference room's wall. "That's not fair at all!" Richard said. "You can't..." The CEO interrupted him. "You've had your say, Richard." Richard fell silent. Several people at the table shifted in their seats. "Please continue, Ann," the CEO said. Ann clicked her mouse and brought up a new screen that was dense with small text. Ann clicked her mouse and brought up a new screen that was dense with small text. "I scanned a page from an old newspaper into my laptop this morning," she said. "You are looking at an index page from the help wanted ads. This particular page is from 1963, so it is old, but not that old. "Omega used to rely heavily on ads like these to generate applications. I know the words are hard to make out, but I really only want to call your attention to two items in the second column." Ann clicked again. Her computer zoomed in on a small area of the page and enlarged it to fill the screen. A boldface heading read: Employment. Beneath it were many subheadings such as "Manufacturing, p. 15, column D" and "Clerical, p. 16, column B." The next boldfaced heading read: Colored Employment. Beneath it were many subheadings with different page numbers.' "Take a look at those two headings. Can you imagine? This is from long ago, perhaps, but not from that far in the past. This is how it used to be. "This company, for decades, ran ads in the 'employment' section. Not once did we run an ad in the 'colored employment' section. Don't think for a second that we, and a lot of other companies, didn't make it absolutely clear who was welcome to apply for a job. "I am not out to make anyone feel badly, and everyone of you knows how committed I am to this company, and how proud I am of what we do. But if we are to do what is right today, we must look squarely at our history." Ann paused for a moment. "That kind of discrimination was legal until 1964. When the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, newspapers stopped dividing help wanted ads in this way." Ann touched a button and blanked the screen. "From 1964 until he stepped down in 1981, Mr. Smith continued to push an unwritten policy of discrimination against minorities. I've interviewed many retirees and a couple of our most senior people who are still around and confirmed that this is so. We had essentially no minority employees at all until 1982. We were sued more than a few times, but Mr. Smith spent millions in today's dollars fighting the claims in court and at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. When it looked like someone might win a case, he settled it and kept it out of the papers. "I agree with Richard on one point: We don't discriminate in hiring today. Two equally qualified graduates of different races do have an equal chance of being hired. There are no racists working here that turn people away unfairly. “But, nevertheless, because of our past, we attract fewer minority applicants in the first place. We still have a negative image in the minds of enough people to matter. Some terrific students don't drop a resumé with us. Some who do interview with us take a job with another company. If you have an office visit here, you will certainly see less diversity than you do in other places. "We need an affirmative action policy that embraces everyone and makes it clear that we welcome everyone. Our competitors all have such a policy. We don't. I firmly believe that we are missing an opportunity to attract exceptional employees. I also firmly believe that our customers will respond favorably to such a policy. I have no study specific to our company, but all the research shows that enough consumers pay attention to corporate diversity initiatives to matter. "Adopting one or more of the policies we are debating today is the right thing to do, and this company will benefit from any or all of them. Thank you." "Thank you, Ann," the CEO said. "OK, that's both sides. I want to remind everyone of the three policies that are up for an up-or-down vote at the end of this meeting. "One," the CEO held up one finger for emphasis, "we will consider whether to spend more time and money doing on-campus recruiting at colleges with large minority student populations. "Two, we will consider ending our policy of interviewing only applicants who are in the top 25 percent of their college class. "These first two policies are designed to help us get a look at a broader range of applicants. "Three, we will consider increasing signing bonuses to match or exceed those offered by our competitors. This policy, if adopted, would also include making more promises to pay off student loans if new workers stay with us for at least three years. "This last policy is designed to help us close the deal when we interview an outstanding applicant. If you are a 22-year-old kid with a lot of debt, I imagine Omega doesn't look so good if you also have an offer from a company that will give you $20,000 up front. "I am going to refrain from further comment. I will do nothing other than call on people to speak for the remainder of the meeting, and the vote we take will be by secret ballot. Please speak your mind and vote your conscience. "OK. Discussion?" If Omega does adopt some diversity program, which of the three items the CEO specifically described at the end of the scenario do you find most and least justifiable? Why? On the top floor of the Omega building in Dallas, Texas, an executive of Omega Corporation was finishing his presentation. "And so, to summarize, we have a great deal of diversity. We don't discriminate in hiring, period. Five percent of our applicants are African American, and 5 percent of our hires are African American. Fifteen percent of our applicants are Hispanic, and 15 percent of our hires are Hispanic. "We also compensate workers equally and give everyone an equal chance to earn a promotion. It is true, granted, that in the past this company acted indefensibly. But those days are long gone. I urge you not to fix a problem that doesn't exist. The best thing for us to do is to be fair to every applicant and to always hire the best applicant for every position. Thank you." At the head of the conference table, the CEO said, "Thank you, Richard. Ann will now present the other side of the issue. Ann?" Omega's CFO rose and walked to the opposite end of the conference table. She plugged a cord into her laptop, straightened her jacket, and began her argument. "In many ways, Omega Corporation is a diverse organization. Our officers are 45 percent female, and our overall workforce is 48 percent female. But we lag far behind our competitors in other areas. "We do have 5 percent African-American workers, but Texas's population is 12 percent African American. We do have, as Richard pointed out, 15 percent Hispanic employees, but Texas's population is 33 percent Hispanic. “Minorities are significantly underrepresented at Omega. And, whether we talk about it or not, we all know why." She paused. "It's because Mr. Smith wanted it that way." She pointed squarely at the oversized portrait of the company's founder that hung on the conference room's wall. "That's not fair at all!" Richard said. "You can't..." The CEO interrupted him. "You've had your say, Richard." Richard fell silent. Several people at the table shifted in their seats. "Please continue, Ann," the CEO said. Ann clicked her mouse and brought up a new screen that was dense with small text. Ann clicked her mouse and brought up a new screen that was dense with small text. "I scanned a page from an old newspaper into my laptop this morning," she said. "You are looking at an index page from the help wanted ads. This particular page is from 1963, so it is old, but not that old. "Omega used to rely heavily on ads like these to generate applications. I know the words are hard to make out, but I really only want to call your attention to two items in the second column." Ann clicked again. Her computer zoomed in on a small area of the page and enlarged it to fill the screen. A boldface heading read: Employment. Beneath it were many subheadings such as "Manufacturing, p. 15, column D" and "Clerical, p. 16, column B." The next boldfaced heading read: Colored Employment. Beneath it were many subheadings with different page numbers.' "Take a look at those two headings. Can you imagine? This is from long ago, perhaps, but not from that far in the past. This is how it used to be. "This company, for decades, ran ads in the 'employment' section. Not once did we run an ad in the 'colored employment' section. Don't think for a second that we, and a lot of other companies, didn't make it absolutely clear who was welcome to apply for a job. "I am not out to make anyone feel badly, and everyone of you knows how committed I am to this company, and how proud I am of what we do. But if we are to do what is right today, we must look squarely at our history." Ann paused for a moment. "That kind of discrimination was legal until 1964. When the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, newspapers stopped dividing help wanted ads in this way." Ann touched a button and blanked the screen. "From 1964 until he stepped down in 1981, Mr. Smith continued to push an unwritten policy of discrimination against minorities. I've interviewed many retirees and a couple of our most senior people who are still around and confirmed that this is so. We had essentially no minority employees at all until 1982. We were sued more than a few times, but Mr. Smith spent millions in today's dollars fighting the claims in court and at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. When it looked like someone might win a case, he settled it and kept it out of the papers. "I agree with Richard on one point: We don't discriminate in hiring today. Two equally qualified graduates of different races do have an equal chance of being hired. There are no racists working here that turn people away unfairly. “But, nevertheless, because of our past, we attract fewer minority applicants in the first place. We still have a negative image in the minds of enough people to matter. Some terrific students don't drop a resumé with us. Some who do interview with us take a job with another company. If you have an office visit here, you will certainly see less diversity than you do in other places. "We need an affirmative action policy that embraces everyone and makes it clear that we welcome everyone. Our competitors all have such a policy. We don't. I firmly believe that we are missing an opportunity to attract exceptional employees. I also firmly believe that our customers will respond favorably to such a policy. I have no study specific to our company, but all the research shows that enough consumers pay attention to corporate diversity initiatives to matter. "Adopting one or more of the policies we are debating today is the right thing to do, and this company will benefit from any or all of them. Thank you." "Thank you, Ann," the CEO said. "OK, that's both sides. I want to remind everyone of the three policies that are up for an up-or-down vote at the end of this meeting. "One," the CEO held up one finger for emphasis, "we will consider whether to spend more time and money doing on-campus recruiting at colleges with large minority student populations. "Two, we will consider ending our policy of interviewing only applicants who are in the top 25 percent of their college class. "These first two policies are designed to help us get a look at a broader range of applicants. "Three, we will consider increasing signing bonuses to match or exceed those offered by our competitors. This policy, if adopted, would also include making more promises to pay off student loans if new workers stay with us for at least three years. "This last policy is designed to help us close the deal when we interview an outstanding applicant. If you are a 22-year-old kid with a lot of debt, I imagine Omega doesn't look so good if you also have an offer from a company that will give you $20,000 up front. "I am going to refrain from further comment. I will do nothing other than call on people to speak for the remainder of the meeting, and the vote we take will be by secret ballot. Please speak your mind and vote your conscience. "OK. Discussion?" If Omega does adopt some diversity program, which of the three items the CEO specifically described at the end of the scenario do you find most and least justifiable? Why?

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I find all three items Omega is considering adopting to be justifiable I think that inc... View the full answer